Birds and Books: The First Time I Read Conroy, Hiaasen, Dorsey: Welcome Bob Spearman

My husband and I took a long road trip a few years ago and spent several weeks in the Lowcountry. What a magical place! Although I haven't read Tim Dorsey (now I will) driving through this lush countryside evoked visions from Conroy and Hiaasen's books, all of which I have read. It's easy to understand how these authors were so inspiring for writer Bob Spearman.

Reading Pat Conroy, Carl Hiaasen, and Tim Dorsey has always been a joy, Pat for his vivid depictions of the lowcountry, and Hiaasen and Dorsey for their over-the-top characters. Trying to follow the lead of these writers has been a challenge. But like these gentlemen, I like to have a message or deal with a social issue in my stories.

Turf and Surf, with its bumbling villains who can’t get out of their own way, begs for the salvation of the vacation paradise environment. The characters are meant to be caricatures and extreme. It’s a fun story of those who battle for their vision of what this seaside vacation paradise should be. The desires of local residents, summer workers, tourists, and drug lords collide in a dramatic ending. If you have been to Myrtle Beach, or a beach resort like it, you will recognize the setting, the bars, the amusement parks, and hotels. Inserting real places always seems to be a favorite for readers who can visualize the story in a familiar context.

Illegal activity, wild summer nights, corrupt police and a kidnapping terrorist on the loose help build a suspenseful tale at the beach. Many readers have asked about a sequel. Maybe is my answer, but not currently in the story queue.

Turf and Surf blurb:

A popular beach haven hides some dirty secrets in Bob Spearman’s thrilling debut novel, Turf and Surf.

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has long been known as a go-to tourist destination. But beneath the sunny exterior lies a dark power struggle between locals, summer workers, tourists, and drug dealing gangsters.

Among them is Bo Jr., a young man whose dreams of paradise quickly turn into a nightmare when he stumbles across a mob-owned bar and is soon recruited as a hit-man-in-training.

Meanwhile, best friends Edna and Evelyn navigate the perilous world of romance while their landlords, the volatile Eddie Rondell and his meek wife, Vera, have their own ideas about how the town should be run.

Events converge to a dangerous day of reckoning as a serial kidnapper terrorizes summer workers and a new drug gang attempts to make a claim of their own.

My second novel, Hard Road, deals with a more serious subject. The story is filled with suspense, but the real story swirls around the Hard Road of mental illness. The two main characters battle separate villains, and suffer from different mental illness issues, but they come together for survival. More open dialogue on this subject is required, but I didn’t want to write a book that preached to readers. I wanted to write a good story where people could relate issues from their own lives and families. Almost every reader who has discussed the issue with me has shared a personal experience. We need to dilute the stigma of the illness to help find a cure, and this story is my attempt to help ignite the dialogue.

Bob Spearman is a child of the Lowcountry, the coastal area of South Carolina. Myrtle Beach and Charleston have provided exquisite backdrops to craft his fiction.

After thirty-eight years working and living in four states as an engineer and manager for high-tech companies, Spearman returned home to South Carolina and opened a technical consulting firm.

Writing had always been a hobby, but in 2014 with the encouragement of his wife and a Charleston writer’s group, he published his first fictional, suspense novel, Turf and Surf. This story is set in Myrtle Beach, SC.

A second novel, Hard Road, based in Charleston, SC was published in February 2015.

As with most writers who love the craft, the pen has not been idle. More South Carolina Lowcountry-based fiction is in work with his third novel, Shrimping Gold.